10 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



moment a band of town boys emerged from the foot 

 of the hill and advanced towards us. We were in 

 no mood for fighting. Each group passed the other 

 eyeing one another like two dogs that remember 

 former battles. 



Dixon made some sneering remark, but, as all 

 our weapons were ready and loaded, he passed on. 

 It was, however, only the lull before the storm. 



The critical moment seemed to have passed, 

 when a severe blow and a stinging sensation on the 

 inside of my right leg made me almost drop to 

 the ground. One of the town boys had hit me with 

 a small stone, and I still carry the mark of the cut. 

 Arthur Cayley whipped round and got to work at 

 once, and in less than a minute we were all in the 

 thick of as fierce a fight with shot and stones as I 

 ever remember. Our opponents mustered about 

 twenty. They had Dixon, who was a good shot, 

 and about seven others with large catapults, the 

 rest using stones, whilst our five were all picked 

 shots using small " tweakers," which up to thirty 

 yards have a considerable accuracy. Singling out 

 Dixon, whom I knew was the leader and the most 

 dangerous man, in the first minute I hit him 

 in the face. Owing to this success we advanced, 

 and the faint-hearted ones soon broke and ran, 

 shortly afterwards followed by the rest. 



Perhaps we ought to have been satisfied at this 

 success, but our blood was up, and we chased the 

 enemy right up over the hill and across the line, 

 where they took up a formidable position on a long 

 stone-heap lying parallel with the railway, whilst 

 we in turn got cover from some trucks. An 

 indecisive engagement then ensued for some ten 



